1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bag mounted with casters, and particularly to a bag having a handle that can vertically move.
2. Discussion of the Related
Bags provided with casters and a freely extensible handle have already been developed and widely used. There are many bags of this structure which are sized to allow the bag to be boarded on planes or the bag may be of a somewhat larger size. For example, bags of this structure have been mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,487 (Patent Reference 1); Japanese Patent Publication 4-76686 (Patent Reference 2) issued Dec. 4, 1992; Japanese non-examined Utility Model Publication No. 57-179824 (Patent Reference 3) issued Nov. 15, 1982 and Japanese non-examined Utility Model Publication No. 63-131634 (Patent Reference 4) issued Aug. 29, 1988. The bags mentioned in these publications are provided with two casters 141 mounted on one side of a bottom face of the bags as shown in FIG. 1. A pair of short legs 142 is fixed on the opposite side of the bottom face with respect to the casters 141. When the bag is in a vertical orientation, the casters 141 and the legs 142 are in contact with the floor. In this condition, because the legs 142 do not turn and are in contact with the floor, the bag can stand upright without moving. Further, an extensible handle 143 is provided at an upper face of the bag to allow the bag to be pulled. The casters 141 are mounted on the same side of the bag as the handle 143 because the bag is pulled while in a slanted or a tilted orientation.
As shown in FIG. 1, the bag can be moved when it is tilted and pulled by the handle 143. When the bag is tilted, the casters 141 remain in contact with the floor and the legs 142 leave the floor. When the handle 143 is pulled in this condition, the casters 141 turn thereby making the bag easy to move. However, with the bags that move in this fashion, the casters 141 cannot sometimes be used in narrow places such as in the inside of a plane cabin or in a crowded area. Therefore, the bag cannot be moved freely with casters 141 in the aisles between the seats in the cabin of a plane, or in crowded areas. When the casters 141 cannot be used, it is necessary to lift the bag and to carry it by hand. In order to prevent the width of the bag from being wide, when the bag is lifted up and carried by hand, it is then possible to move the bag in the direction shown by arrow A in FIG. 1.
The bag mounted with casters has a convenient structure which allows heavy bags to be moved easily. This is because even if the bag is heavy, it can be pulled easily while rolling on the casters. In order to solve the drawbacks of the prior art, the present inventor has developed the bag structure shown in FIG. 2. The bag shown in FIG. 2 has casters 241 fixed at the bottom face of bag body 244. To allow the bag body 244 to stand by itself in an upright position, the casters 241 are mounted at the four corners of the bottom face, respectively. A grip 243A of a handle 243 is located at the middle between the right and left sides of the upper face of the bag body 244. In contrast to the bag shown in FIG. 1, the bag shown in FIG. 2 can be moved, not by tilting the bag body, but with the bag body standing in a vertical position as shown by the arrow in the FIG. 2. When it is moved in the direction shown by the arrow, it can be moved with a narrow width of the bag body oriented perpendicular to the direction of travel. For this reason, the bag shown in FIG. 2 has the advantage that it can be conveniently moved in plane cabins or crowded areas. Furthermore, the bag can be freely moved in any direction by using free casters in an upright position, which swivel in any direction, for the four casters 241. Also, the upright bag does not transmit the bag weight to the handle 243. Therefore, even a fairly heavy bag can be easily pushed and moved.
The bag of this structure can be lightly and easily moved on its four casters by pushing the grip of the handle. However, with a bag of this structure it is necessary to place the grip of the handle at the middle of the bag body, i.e. between the right and the left sides of the bag body. If a grip is fixed to one side of the bag body having free swiveling casters, it is difficult to move the bag in a straight direction by pushing the grip.
As shown in the cross sectional view of FIG. 3, with the bag mounted with the handle at the middle of the upper face of the bag body, it is necessary to fix extensible rods 245 of the handle 243 to the inside of the bag body 244. To place the grip 243A at the middle between the right and left sides of the bag body 244, the efficient use of the inside of the bag body 244 difficult. To solve as much as possible the problems associated with the extensible rods 245, the present inventor has provided a partition panel 246 in the bag body 244 and thus has invented a bag with the extensible rods 245 fixed to this partition panel 246. The bag is designed to open on both sides so as to allow items to be placed in the bag on both sides of the partition 246. In the bag of this structure, the partition panel 246 reinforces the bag body 244 and also divides the bag body 244 into two compartments thereby making the bag more convenient. However, the drawback of having the extensible rods 245 hindering inside the bag body 244 is still not solved. Especially, the drawback of the bag body 244 becoming shallower, thus preventing the placement of thick items therein, cannot be solved.
To solve these drawbacks, the present inventor has developed a bag shown in FIG. 4 (See Patent Reference 5).
This bag has a case body 344 mounted with casters 341 at four corners, and further has extensible rods 345 fixed on a side surface of the bag body 344. The extensible rods 345 have a structure capable of extending a handle 343, and a grip 343A is connected to upper ends thereof. In the condition where the extensible rods 345 are pulled up from the bag body 344, the extensible rods 345 are curved so that the grip 343A is located at the middle between the right and left sides of an upper surface the bag body 344.
Patent Reference 1: U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,487
Patent Reference 2: Japanese Patent Publication 4-76686
Patent Reference 3: Japanese non-examined Utility Model Publication No. 57-179824
Patent Reference 4: Japanese non-examined Utility Model Publication No. 63-131634
Patent Reference 5: Japanese non-examined Patent Publication No. 10-137022
In the bag of this structure, since the extensible rods are fixed on the side surface, the bag has a feature that can form an interior of the bag body deeply. However, in the bag of this structure, the extensible rods are fixed on the bag body, therefore, the bag body is required to have a rigid structure. The reason is that the bag body allows the extensible rods to stand on their own. Especially, in a bag having casters mounted at the four corners whereby being freely moved on a horizontal plane in any moving directions, extensible rods fixed to a bag body whereby standing on their own, and a grip of the rods with the height of 60 to 100 cm, the bag can be used as a walking stick to move by pushing the bag when a user walk with gripping the grip. In the bag of this structure, the bag is moved not by pulling the extensible rods as shown in FIG. 1, but by pushing them forwardly to move the bag body as a walking stick for supporting a walker. Thus, the bag is required to have a rigid structure so that it does not fall down when pushed. Accordingly, in order to achieve a rigid structure so that it does not fall down when pushed, mount portions of the bag and the rods should be sufficiently reinforced. Therefore, such a bag has a drawback that complex structure of the bag body causes an extremely high manufacturing cost. Further, it has another drawback that is difficult to reinforce Accordingly, in order to achieve a rigid structure so that it does not fall down when pushed, mount portions of the bag and the rods should be sufficiently reinforced. Therefore, such a bag has a drawback that complex structure of the bag body causes an extremely high manufacturing cost. Further, it has another drawback that is difficult to reinforce the bag body without reducing its storage space.
The present invention has been made to further solve these drawbacks. An important object of the present invention is to provide a bag mounted with casters having a bag body constructed of a simple structure capable of being manufactured inexpensively, and further capable of being easily moved forward while standing on its own for use as a walking stick by gripping a grip disposed at an upper end.
The above and further objects and features of the invention will more fully be apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings.